


Something Lost is Found

by kkuroshii



Series: And Someday I'll Find My Way Back to You [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: ASL Brothers, Ace is still dead, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amnesia, Gen, I feel like Nami and Sabo would get along ok, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Post-Time Skip, Sabo and Luffy reunion, Sabo meets the Strawhats, but he will, sabo still can't remember Luffy, strawhat crew and Sabo interactions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:28:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22654006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kkuroshii/pseuds/kkuroshii
Summary: Nami is enjoying a short break in their journey on an overcrowded island with the rest of her crew. That is, until she runs into a man with a top hat who claims to be lost. Resigning herself to showing him where he needs to be she accidently brings him to meet her crew, only there's a problem, Luffy seems to know him?orThe fic where the strawhats run into Sabo while he still hasn't recovered his memories. Luffy is understandably distraught
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy & Sabo, Nami & Sabo (One Piece), mentions of Sabo/Koala (One Piece)
Series: And Someday I'll Find My Way Back to You [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1898545
Comments: 50
Kudos: 287





	1. Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> This fic really revolves around how Sabo would react to and act around the strawhats if he actual time to meet them *glares at canon* and if he didn't know that they were his brother's crew. I wrote this while avoiding updating There's Fate in Coincidence, I'm sorry for those who wanted an update, it's coming eventually! For now enjoy this

“Excuse me?” The voice comes from Nami’s right and she turns to face the man who’s speaking. “Are you a local?” Nami snorts. She’s pretty sure she’s the farthest from an island local as you could get. 

“No.” Her response is blunt, not willing to engage with a stranger and possibly draw unwanted attention. God knows Luffy’s stirring up trouble somewhere as he usually does. The last thing they need is more focus on them. 

“Oh.” He responds frowning slightly. His pout is cute as he looks around him slowly, rather obviously lost. She sighs. 

Her idiot sensor is going off the rails (fine-tuned thanks to Luffy) and feeling only slightly guilty (she studies maps of every island they visit so at least one person knows the fastest escape routes in case of emergency-someone has to be the responsible one after all- so she’s fairly knowledgeable about the streets of the island), she sizes him up.

He’s pretty tall, at least a head and a half taller than her, with blonde wavy hair that’s mostly covered by a top hat. The greedy part of her stirs in excitement looking at his attire, it’s clearly a higher class style, with a long coat, cravat, and his top hat. It’d be easy to pickpocket him while she brought him where he needed to go. As stylistic as his clothes were, looking him over, she noticed a few things that set him apart from the usual nobility and made her reevaluate her initial judgment. His clothes were nice, but faded, as if they had been worn for long periods of time for years, the clothes themselves covered in small tears or worn spots. His clothing was clean, but held bits of dirt and mud, something the high class would never allow. She frowns as her gaze turns to the rather obvious burn scar on his face, half hidden by blonde locks hanging in front of it and partially covering his eye. Now there’s something a noble would never allow.

Satisfied that her analysis is complete, she thinks it over. Her initial thoughts had clearly been wrong, but going off of the fact that he was lost meant he wasn’t from around here. That left room for the possibility that he was vacationing here (Robin had pointed out the island’s popularity as a resort for travellers), which meant he still could have a fair amount of money on him. Weighing her pros and cons she watches him turn slightly in a circle where he’s standing, as if scanning the crowd for something or someone that he might recognize. Encouraged by his obvious distress, she decides to throw caution to the wind.

“Well I do know my way around, I don’t suppose you’d still like my directions?” 

His head snaps back towards her and his eyes fill with excitement, smile growing to a blinding size. The blatant happiness and odd faith in a random stranger rather remind her of Luffy. The thought bringing a small smile to her face she shakes her head lightly and waves her hand at the stranger, gesturing at him to follow her. He nods and steps quickly over to her. 

Suddenly the sun catches on something and she has to blink the glare away, squinting for what could’ve caught her eye in his movement. Then her eyes alight on something that makes her instantly cautious. A long steel pipe. She blinks again and refocuses on the long gray metal sticking out above the man’s shoulder. O-kay so maybe he’s not just an innocent tourist like she thought. She can’t go back on helping him out now though, she’s already called him over and if it can be assumed he takes to violence from the metal pipe strapped to his back, she doesn’t exactly want to see what happens when she denies him guidance. 

Still eyeing the pipe, she tries for a bit of small talk to ease her mind, and maybe, possibly, learn whether or not she needs to slip away from this man in the crowds of people.

“So… What’s your name?” She asks after he tells her the name of his destination. “Are you vacationing here?” They walk side by side through the crowded streets. There’s an open air market in this section of town so the roads are packed, to get from one place to another you need to push past multitudes of people. Nami’s assertiveness just happens to be a rather helpful attribute at times like this. She gives more than one glare out as she says this and shoves at least one person before he answers.

“Isn’t it polite to give your own name before asking for someone else’s?” Oh. Shit. She forgot about that. Slightly nervous again she debates the risks of giving her actual name. The Strawhats have steadily been rising in their infamy and not to brag but she’s pretty sure their wanted posters will be pretty well known. Hers included. 

But his question doesn’t exactly have a malicious air about it and she knows the crew will be out of here by tomorrow afternoon at the latest, so she decides to chance it.

“I’m Nami.” She says, and quickly moves to pull the attention off of the name. “And what’s yours?” Her head is turned towards him and her fake smile slips a fraction as his face freezes and recognition flickers in his eyes for a heartbeat. But then he laughs and that smile is just as warm as before, and he’s chuckling at her. 

“I’m Sabo.” Is his curt reply and he sticks his hand out towards her. Nami takes it quickly and gives it a light shake before dropping it. Something about the name pulls her attention off of his worrisome reaction to her own name. Sabo… She could swear that she’d heard it somewhere before… It wasn’t exactly that common of a name, so it’s likely she didn’t just hear it in passing… Oh well, if she couldn’t remember than odds are it wasn’t something worth remembering. Filing it away as unimportant she moves the conversation along.

“And you’re here-”

“Vacationing. Yes. As you asked before I’m here on vacation.” Nami looks questioningly at Sabo as they round a street corner. The fact that he cut her off belied the fact that he had something more going on than just vacationing, but, not wanting to stick her nose where it didn’t belong, she leaves it be. “And you?”

“Oh, I’m, I’m vacationing here as well.” He glances at her and she feels the need to add, “Alone.” That elects a raised eyebrow from her companion.

“Alone? You’ve come to the prime vacationing spot in miles on the grand line and you’re here alone.” She blushes and moves to correct her mistake. 

“Well I’m here with my… family. But I meant alone as in… single?” Sabo laughs at her tentative statement.

“Are you fishing for a date?” Her blush quickly increases.

“NO! No! Not asking you.”

“Aw.” He pouts. Tilting his head at her. “Am I that unappealing?” Goddamnit this man was playing her for a fool.

“No, no, it's just...I’m not into… men.” ‘And I’ve got a girlfriend’, she doesn’t add.

“It’s fine, I was just messing with you. I’m in a relationship already anyway.” Well, every aspect of her seduction plan is out the window, and for once it was almost entirely her fault. Mentally slapping herself, Nami plasters a smile on her face, the same one someone wears when pretending to be invested in a friend’s love life, and opens that can of worms because goddamnit she’s desperate for distractions.

“Oh you’ve got a partner?” (becasue fuck heteronormativity)

“Yeah, a girlfriend. She’s the one that’s waiting for me at my destination, and also the reason I found myself lost in this sea of-” A drunk man forces himself shakily between them, forcing Sabo to lean out of the way and separate from Nami, before repositioning himself back at her side. “-of wonderful people.” She empathizes with the bite he puts behind the word wonderful.

“Oh that’s sweet. You guys are vacationing together?” Sabo winces.

“Oh, um yeah, vacationing. You know how it is, we needed a, um, break from the monotony and what not so,” He gestures around them vaguely. “Here we are.” Nami nods along, only half listening and only half noticing when he falls silent as well. She’s too busy planning the right time to sneak a few things from his coat pockets, she can’t do this for free just because they’re bonding over his girlfriend. She’ll do it when they get just in view of the place he’s looking for, so she’ll have a good chance of being long gone before he notices the missing valuables.

Their silence is more or less comfortable, now that they’ve introduced themselves to each other there’s a loss for words and topics that fades into a (companionable?) silence. Only accustomed to the shapes on the maps and not the physical appearances of the buildings, Nami keeps a sharp eye out for any indication that she’s going the right -or the wrong- way.

Nami and Sabo walk until they reach a plaza, the street they just were in one of many branching off from the open area. It’s significantly more crowded here due to the increased amount of room for stands. They don’t get much farther through the throngs of market-goers before a flash of green catches her eye. She turns toward the source and sees Zoro, green hair bright and wielding three swords as usual, fending off an angry looking Sanji, both yelling insults at each other.

“Oh no…” Nami ducks her head and tries to speed up. If Sanji catches sight of her he’ll drag her over there and she won’t be able to successfully bring Sabo where he’s got to go without blowing her cover. The three of them together, combining with Zoro and Sanji’s complete stupidity, the chances of her being outed as a pirate become extremely high. Sabo looks down at her, confused, but speeds up as well. She doesn’t miss the quick once over he gives to their surroundings or the alert calculating look that appeared and vanished as fast as it came.

Her efforts prove to be in vain however, as she sees that Robin caught sight of her, and said something to Sanji, who immediately started screaming across the plaza at the top of his lungs. Wait, Robin? Nami strains to look again through the people, checking to see that hadn’t been mistaken. And of course there sat Robin, along with the rest of the crew minus Luffy and Usopp. She slaps her forehead. Of course she hadn’t noticed them through the people, of course they were all here, of course things never went her way. 

Letting out a long suffering sigh, she gives an apologetic look to Sabo, before heading over to her crew. He follows her, pushing past groups of people in order to ensure she stays in his sight line and he can get to wherever she’s headed. Together they make it to the Strawhats, all waiting in a semi-clear portion of the bustling street center.

“Nami-swan!”

Seeing her rejoin their group Sanji breaks away from his squabble with Zoro to greet her. 

“Oh, Nami it’s unlike you to pick up strays,” There’s a glint of amusement in Robin’s eyes as she appraises Sabo next to her. “That’s usually a job saved for someone else, no?” Nami groans, for two reasons. One, because she was just compared to Luffy, of all people, and two because she’ll definitely have to give up her hopes of discreetly robbing this man.

“Yeah guys, this is Sabo. I met him on the street, he was asking for directions. Sabo this is-”

“Your family?” He interrupts, a smile on his face that indicates that he knows full well the slight lie that she told. (Although it’s not really a lie, however the implied interpretation was rather incorrect. His fault for assuming she meant her blood family.) “The one you mentioned earlier?”

“Oh Nami-sis! That brings tears to my eyes!” Franky shouts, small hands popping out to wipe at his face with a small handkerchief.

“Yohohoho!” Comes a voice from his right. “How moving! It warms my heart… Ah! But I don’t have a heart though!”

She ignores the vein threatening to pop out of her forehead and the blush that’s spreading across her freckled cheeks. She especially ignores the amused looks both Zoro and Robin are giving her. 

“Yes, Sabo this is… this is my family.” Figuring it’s better to let him assume what he will than amend her statement she gestures at them all.

“That idiot is Zoro,” He gives a curt nod and offers nothing else. Nami glares at him.

“This is Robin.”

“A pleasure Sabo-san.”

“Likewise, Robin.” For a brief moment Nami imagines seeing a flash of recognition followed by a wariness in both of their eyes. They look at each other for a minute as if gaging the other’s reaction, before the feeling is gone and Nami feels as though it hadn’t even happened at all.

“The robot is Franky.”

“I’m a cyborg!” he corrects. “Nice to meet you Sab-bro.”

“Ah you too.”

“The skeleton is Brook.” He swipes his hat off of his head and gives a slight bow.

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance Sabo-san.” His bow is returned by a small dip from Sabo.

“And you as Well.”

“And that’s...” She trails off, gesturing absentmindedly at Sanji, caught between ignoring him and insulting him.

“The goblin pervert.” Zoro supplies helpfully. At least that’s what he muttered after recovering from a quick blow to the head. 

“Yeah that’s Sanji.”

“Keep your hands off of Nami-swan!” The cook is subdued with two smacks and a laugh from Zoro that has them fighting behind the group again.

Nami returns her focus to Sabo, frowning apologetically. “I’m sorry. I know you’ve got somewhere to be and the last thing you probably want to be doing is being introduced to my… my family.” She can’t help but stumble over the word.

“No not at all.” He smiles at her, giving the impression that he’s actually enjoying their barely controlled chaos. “I’m used to energetic people.” He stops for a second after saying this, and frowns slightly. Nami looks at him questioningly as his gaze unfocuses for a second, but he refocuses his attention not a second later. “Is this all of your family then?” She snorts.

“No. We’ve got two more. Usopp and the current cause of all my problems.” Sabo chuckles at her blatant exasperation. 

“The last one is problematic?” Nami gives a sigh that tells of an eternity of frustration.

“No, try endlessly energetic.” He grins at her.

“Endless?”

“Endless.”

“I’d like to meet him.” He says slightly wistfully. She glances at him.

“I don’t know why but there’s always someone who wants to meet him.” Nami laughs lightly. “Luffy just attracts everyone’s attention.” 

She’s so lost in her reflection on the many types of people that Luffy pulls in that she almost misses the flinch from Sabo next to her. Almost. It’s small, almost imperceptible, but still there. He had seemed to relax when they started talking about Luffy, an ease sliding into their conversation that hadn’t quite been there before. Not that he had been tense, it’s just that when their talk changed directions he had relaxed even more, as if slipping into a comfortable topic. As soon as she mentioned Luffy’s name though, the tension was back. She didn’t miss the briefest appearance of confusion in his eyes and couldn’t help but feel that it was reflected in her own.

“Luffy...huh?”


	2. Something About Him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoooo sorry for the really long wait I’ve been really distracted lately and my motivation went flying out the window. But I just recently got some really nice comments on one of my other fics that made me want to keep writing so! Here you go!

Nami’s not stupid.

Sure her judgement can be called into question when it comes to large amounts of money and the numerous times she’s done some pretty questionable things for the sake of treasure. Even her choice of following an idiot captain around the world raises doubts of her sanity, but in most regards she’s not dumb.

Which is why she is most definitely suspicious of Sabo.

Not that she’s immediately saying he’s a bad guy or evil or something. But he’s not exactly your standard tourist either. 

He’s wary, she can tell. Years of being on the run from various rag tag groups of pirates and fellow thieves have taught her to recognize that careful look in someone’s eye. She’s seen it in the mirror often enough. Not that being leary of an infamous pirate group is suspicious, it’s rather sensical (not that anyone on her crew-sans Usopp-would know). However, it’s the precision in how he’s hiding his caution and his apparent lack of worry towards being surrounded by wanted criminals that worries her just a little bit. That and the long metal pipe on his back that just sings of violence. She’s more than just a _little_ worried about that.

But so far, he’s been nothing but polite. Maybe even a little air-headed with how he seems so lost in this unfamiliar town. Small talk with him came easy and his easy-going nature with the crew makes her wonder if he’s just a clueless tourist after all.

“This is the biggest trade market in this half of the Grand Line.” Sabo is saying to an interested Franky, Chopper, and Brook. Zoro and Sanji are absorbed in another one of their many pointless fights, though it seems to be lacking more heat than usual. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that both of their eyes- or eye, she supposes as each man only has one showing- keep flitting back to Sabo. Maybe they’re interested in the many details of the island market that Sabo is animatedly sharing. Maybe. Or….

Or maybe it has something to do with how Robin hasn’t said a word since greeting him. She’s silent, not that she often adds much to passing conversation to begin with, but this secluded quiet is different. She stands off to the side, watching him with a sharp look in her blue eyes. That’s a calculating gaze many of the Strawhats are familiar with.

It’s a universal law that Robin knows something about everything, so more often than not they find themselves seeing that knowing look, assessing and warning of more danger beneath the surface. She wears it now, watching Sabo.

Not that Zoro and Sanji might have noticed. Though they’re observant- give her a break she offers credit where it's due- but they’re pretty dense. Catching a miniscule change in Robin’s behavior isn’t exactly on their watch list. (It sits high on Nami’s as she seems to be the only Straw Hat that has any _sense_ and appointed herself in charge of steering them away from trouble, not that it often works)

And yet both men seem intent on keeping Sabo in their sights. So maybe he’s not a clueless traveller after all, lucky her. 

Seeing as he hasn’t done anything harmful yet, she’s decided to be content just keeping an eye on him. Which maybe isn’t the best mentality to have, but it’s the one she’s settled on. 

“So what brings you to this island Sabo?” Robin’s abrupt question cuts into Sabo’s animated story of a surprising bloody history of the market.

Suddenly aware of the entire crew’s focus on him he looks a little embarrassed and rubs the back of his neck. 

“Ah, um, I’m here with my girlfriend.” There’s a moment where the only sounds are the din of the market goers around them as Sabo seems to realize that they’re waiting for an actual answer. “On vacation.” He adds. 

Deciding to ignore that suspiciously and most definitely intentionally vague answer Nami cuts in. 

“That’s right. He was looking for the place they said they would meet up when we ran into each other.” 

For some reason that warrants a quick glance from Sabo at her. She returns the look but his eyes move away to quick for sustained contact. 

Robin offers a polite smile. 

“I see. It’s a good thing you ran into Nami then, she is quite the wonder with maps.” Nami tries to fight a blush at this and the grins that appear on her crew mates faces. Sabo takes a look at the obvious pride and offers a smile. 

“Looks like I got pretty lucky.” 

Surprisingly, he sounds like he’s telling the truth. As though he wasn’t just picked up by one of the most infamous pirate groups in the world. Once again it stirs up Nami’s curiosity. Indifference to their status means one of two things: one- he genuinely has no idea who they are and that raises some serious questions about where he came from- or two- he powerful enough that he believes them to pose no threat to him. Both are scary options. 

“I don’t suppose you could share with us where you were heading Sabo-san.”

Nami is shaken out of her thoughts by Robin's statement again. 

Something in Sabo’s eyes grow colder as Nami watches Robin’s smile sharpen. The two are locked in some sort of battle with their eyes, something is happening that Nami is not privy to, a war between two individuals with too many secrets. Clearly Robin knows something about this man that Nami doesn’t, and when Sabo shows no signs of answering Nami hesitantly offers up the answer. 

“He said he needed to meet at the government records building. He said they chose that because his girlfriend loves…. architecture…”

Nami trails off. At her words Sabo’s eyes darkened while Robin lifted her chin slightly. Her words somehow confirmed something Robin was looking for and she seems to be satisfied with whatever her goal was. Sabo’s expression remains blank. 

“Interesting.” Is all she says before suddenly she’s in a chair that definitely wasn’t there before and reading a book that definitely wasn’t in her hands two seconds ago. 

It’s an odd scene, a woman sitting in the middle of a crowd, sitting in a chair and reading, seemingly unperturbed by the constant noises of the market surrounding her. 

When Nami cranes her neck she can see a cafe on the edge of the plaza with a man on the ground next to his table looking bewildered. Resolving to ask Robin to use her gifts for more of Nami’s epithet-like activities, she turns back to Sabo. 

Only she finds that she’s still off put by that incredibly strange interaction and struggles to find conversation. Sabo is still just standing there, looking at Robin but not looking at her, as though his mind is somewhere else. Luckily, Franky comes to the rescue. 

“Sorry if that made you uncomfortable Sabro, Robin is an acquired taste.” 

A tan hand pops out of his large metal shoulder and smacks him upside the head. 

“A good taste though!”

His shout of pain from a follow up slap is covered up by Brook adding on. 

“Unless you’re Luffy-san of course. I’m fairly sure he likes everyone right off the bat unless they’ve done something to offend him. Yohoho”

Sabo smiles and shakes his head. 

“I’ve met my fair share of odd people and trust me, you’re fine.” He pauses for a moment. “Although I’d have to say a living skeleton is high on my list.”

Nami fights a smile and shakes her head. So he did think Brook was odd. He had a surprisingly calm reaction to meeting the skeleton compared to most people. 

“Speaking of odd, why are you guys all gathered here together? Normally we’re all split up.” She decides to leave off the _and wreaking havoc_ that definitely belongs at the end of that sentence. 

They had left the ship in groups to prevent getting lost and hopefully some of the chaos that they would inevitably cause. Luffy had taken off immediately, dragging a nervous Usopp behind him. They always draw straws to see who ends up with Luffy (not because no one volunteers but because the people who do can’t be trusted _cough Zoro every time cough_ ) The sniper has been drawn against his will and was now somewhere on the island being dragged head long into one of Luffy’s adventures. Nami had left with Sanji so they could plan out and buy more food and supplies. Robin and Chopper left (as they usually do) to go find new books on the crowded island, leaving the group of Franky and Brook to reign in Zoro and explore as they pleased. 

Somewhere along the line Sanji and Nami had gotten separated among the throngs of people. She hadn’t been too worried, when he put his mind to it Sanji is one of the more competent members of the crew and she was confident that he could complete his tasks and return to the ship in one piece. 

Given her separation she had thought it might happen to the others, but it seems to have been the opposite as they found each other. 

“Robin and I ran into Sanji on the way out of the bookstore.” Chopper pipes up. “We were heading back to where he last saw you to meet back up with you when we ran into Zoro’s group in this plaza.” 

She can read in between the lines from there. _Zoro and Sanji caught sight of each other and caused a scene._ As per usual. 

“No sign of Usopp and Luffy then?”

“No.”

“Great, that’s almost scarier than hearing about them.”

Zoro shrugs.

“I don’t know, there are a lot of food stalls here Luffy’s probably just dragging Usopp to everyone that he sees.”

Zoro, as usual (only when it comes to Luffy), has a point. The lack of incident could just be because of the large food-shaped distraction on the island. But Nami also doesn’t want to wait around until they’re out of money. 

“The quiet will last as long as their money does and then that idiot will start dine and dashing.”

Sabo, who had been rather absent from the conversation up until this point, jerks a bit. 

“Dine… and dashing…?”

He draws the phrase out and his voice carries an almost confused air to it. 

Nami frowns. It’s not exactly a rare occurrence, in fact eating without paying has to be the number one crime out there behind pick pocketing. 

“Yeah dining and dashing, you know, where you eat and run?”

Sabo’s eyes are unfocused and he frowns at the ground. One hand comes up to touch the left side of his face, the one that sports the nasty scar. 

“Sabo?...” Tentatively she reaches out to poke him in the shoulder to get his attention. He starts and looks up at her, gaze refocusing, but not before his eyes dart between her face and the ground he was staring at a few times, as though whatever thought he had had just slipped out of his reach and he was trying to find it again. 

“I...Yeah dine and dashing. I’m sorry it just brought up some… memories is all.” His frown deepens a fraction. “I think… I think I used to dine and dash.”

His tone really throws her for a loop. He sounds so unsure of what he said she would have called him out for lying right then and there if he didn’t look so confused. 

“Ok…?” When there’s no response she adds, “We’re not looking down on you or anything it’s not like we haven’t broken any laws.” She still chooses to omit the pirate part in case he still really is just a clueless citizen. Though the more time they spend together, the more she’s sure that isn’t true. 

“Well anyways,” Sanji buts in, plowing over the uncomfortable feeling in the air, eager to get rid of it. “I say since we’ve already grouped up we should hunt down the two missing idiots and we can all spend the rest of the time together.”

“Yeah we could drop Sabo off where he needs to go on the way!”

Sanji and Chopper have a point, it’d be nice to see the rest of the island together, they could even stop for dinner or something. And given Luffy’s track record he’ll be somewhere far away from them which means they’ll probably end up in the vicinity of Sabo’s meeting place. 

Looking at the crew there are various nods of assent from the members. She turns to Sabo. 

“What do you think Sabo? I’d hate to force you to come with us if you don’t want to.”

He grins at her. “And miss part of a hunt for someone that has no regard for society’s rules on public decency while eating with a rag tag group of rambunctious people I just met? I wouldn’t miss it.”

She smiles. Chopper picks a direction to walk in and they start to head that way commencing the hunt for their captain. As Sabo turns to walk with them, smiling as he says something to Brook in passing, Nami notices not for the first time how well he seems to fit with their group. There’s an odd sort of familiarity about him that she just can’t shake. It’s the reason she’s been so haphazard about the whole thing, trusting him twice as fast as most people she met. She’s almost considered asking him what he thought of being a pirate before catching herself. There’s something off about him though, something that Robin noticed, something that stops him for fitting in all the way. 

She shakes her head. Liking strangers is Luffy’s specialty, best to leave it to him. She begins to follow after them when she stops suddenly, a thought coming to her head. Nami replays their conversation in her mind. _’Someone that has no regard for society’s rules on public decency while eating’_

Huh. She can’t help but wonder when she told him Luffy was an animal when he eats.


	3. You're It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! The story's not dead! Please don't leave!
> 
> Sorry for the long wait you guys, I've had half the chapter sitting in my google docs unfinished for months now. But! I've finished it! Enjoy the chapter and let's hope my sudden burst of motivation continues

“My vote is still for ‘eeny meeny miny mo’.”

“That’s ridiculous. Let’s do it.”

“Hey, why not let Zoro pick?”

“Marimo??? Pick a direction??? Are we talking about the same person?”

“Oi, watch it cook.”

“Well, his sense of the cardinal directions is worse than a baby at best-”

“Hey.”

“-but he does have a good track record of miraculously finding Luffy.”

The group goes quiet as they ponder this, letting the crowds of people float past them as they stand in front of a fork in the street where the buildings split into three different paths. They had so far been picking their heading based off of whichever path someone shouted first, hoping that the straw hats famous luck (or lack thereof Usopp has insisted on numerous occasions) would guide them to their missing captain and sniper. 

This incredibly intelligent tactic ( _luck?? How do you guys get anywhere? Shut it Sabo, people who don’t look at maps of places they’re traveling to don’t get a say_ ) doesn’t come without a few flaws however. Despite wanting to hunt down their crew members, their first priority is still to get Sabo to his destination, no matter how much he seems to be enjoying this exploration-disguised-as-a-search with the Strawhats. Thus, they have to continue in the general direction of the records building where Sabo's girlfriend–Koala, he tells them with a smile–is waiting for him. No doubt she’s wondering where he’s been.

(“I’m so sorry, your girlfriend must be terrified something happened to you.”

“Oh, no.” He grimaces slightly. “She’s definitely not scared, _very_ irritated yes, but not worried.”

Which only raises more questions.)

This leaves Nami to point out the routes that will take them closer to their destination. Studying any maps of the islands that they stayed at was a necessary requirement of the navigator, this one being no exception. The island had a fairly basic circular shape, split into two halves like a giant yin and yang symbol. One half held the bustling markets that they currently found themselves in and the other a massive jungle. The two halves were almost completely separated by a narrow sound that merged into a small river, and the only way to cross from the city to the jungle half was a small piece of land that connected the two on the western end. Not that it seemed like many people used it, as the jungle was several stories higher than the city and it was a rather arduous path. If not for the inconvenient separation, Nami had no doubts that the entirety of the island would be overcome by the same reddish hued buildings that make up the market surrounding them. 

Though she wasn’t overly familiar with the specific locations on the island, she knew enough to differentiate between the various sectors; residential to the west, government to the north, the marketplace to the south, and the sound and ports to the east. Thus, she found herself picking suitable paths in the maze-like streets while everyone else fights to pick the direction.

They reached an especially hard point now, as the road they had been taking in this building-cluttered town splits itself into three roads, each heading more or less in the direction they need, resulting in a heated debate over which to take.

“Okay, okay,” Franky snaps his fingers to everyone’s attention, but mostly Zoro and Sanji who, like with everything, started to get too into their argument. “How about we figure out where each path takes us and choose which one Luffy would most likely be at.”

Sanji brushes off the front of his jacket before pulling out a cigarette. “Sounds like a smart enough plan, better than setting the green idiot loose anyways.”

A sharp look from Nami ensures that Zoro holds back a scathing retort and they carry on avoiding that particular interruption.

“Okay, if remembering correctly….that one,” she gestures to the cobblestone street to their left where in the distance they can see that the people start to thin a bit as it gets farther away. “Heads into the residential area and eventually to the jungle on the opposite side of the island from the market.”

Zoro’s head snaps to attention.

“We don’t even need to know the rest, Luffy wound up in the jungle, case closed, let’s go.” He starts to walk away but Franky grabs the back of his shirt, preventing him from moving. 

“Hold it bro, let’s hear all of our options first. Also, you were super heading back the way we just came from.”

Nami holds back a giggle as Zoro strains to keep moving for a second but ends up walking in place, before he resignedly slumps down and gives in to Franky’s tugging. His metal arm creaks as it drags Zoro, arms crossed and heels dragging, back to where he started.

This earns a snicker out of Sanji, who is quieted by a punch in the shoulder by Nami before Zoro decides he needs to retaliate. God, she lives with a bunch of children.

“Thank you, Franky.”

The cyborg gives her a thumbs up and a matching grin.

“Moving on, the path to our right heads close to the sound and water-themed tourist attractions.”

She pointedly ignores the puppy dog eyes Chopper immediately sends toward her.

“Yohoho! Luffy-San loves amusement parks and the like, I’m sure he’d be down the right path.”

“Yeah, I’m with Brook, if Luffy caught wind of water slides or something he’d be there in a heartbeat.”

“Cook, you're forgetting that a fundamental aspect of Luffy’s personality is finding an adventure. He’s more likely to manage that if he went to the jungle.” Zoro ends his sentence with a gesture towards the left path.

Chopper nods his agreement, but Sanji shakes his head.

“I think you mean _trouble_ is a fundamental part of Luffy’s personality, you two knuckleheads just call it that because you’re stupid. And if Luffy was going to find trouble somewhere it’d be at a water park when he can’t swim, right?”

As she watches the argument Nami is split as well, both seem like viable options given Luffy’s nature and it's hard to predict where the possibly most unpredictable person in the world will end up. She turns to Sabo to ask him for advice, but something stops her.

At this point she knows that he must think that she's super creepy, because she has been staring at him _a lot_ (give her a break, she's not a fan of being screwed over), but there’s something about him that is so compelling and confusing at the same time. Namely, his conflicting expressions, which in this case perfectly encapsulate those adjectives.

The compelling being he watches the going’s on with a smile, almost fond, laughing occasionally when someone adds a particularly unnecessary point. It’s that feeling that bubbles up again, that sense that he fits here. Sabo in no way sticks out in the Strawhats, his presence slides in easily, as though he’s always been there. Which might say more about his personality than theirs. It almost makes Nami smile.

But then comes the second part; confusing. He’s so goddamn mysterious that it drives her crazy if she thinks about it too long. And it’s not that he’s done much to be suspicious, quite the opposite in fact, but there have been little things, little red flags that make her stop and think. His reactions when he watches this debate is one too them.

He’ll smile and laugh at the loud proclamations of absolute certainty as to where Luffy would be and look for all the world like he’s about to add on, he opens his mouth to throw his own opinion out when he stops. Immediately his brow furrows and his eyes unfocus again and the abrupt change from carefree to deep in thought is jarring.

Between the distractions of the arguing idiots beside her and her focus on Sabo’s growing frown, Nami almost misses when Robin calls out to get her attention.

“Y-yeah Robin?” She calls, still distracted. “You thought of something?”

Robin, clearly amused by Nami’s growing frustration, lets out a breathy laugh.

“Perhaps, we should know where the third path leads before deciding, yes?”

Hand immediately meets forehead as Nami curses her incompetence. There are three paths! They hadn’t even gotten to the one in the middle before the debate had started, leaving the extra path an unconsidered variable. She glares at the very obvious path in front of her as though she had a personal vendetta against each stone set in the street as she racks her brain for the location at the end of the road.

Only, with five class-A idiots arguing four feet away from you the very intense brain-racking that is required for this situation is close to impossible. The solution to this issue, however, is not.

She pauses her ‘solution’ at one smack per person to verbally flay them alive before she intends to finish them off.

“You idiots! How am I supposed to think when you’re yelling nonsense in my ear! We have actual things to do here, Sabo has someone waiting for him and I’m sure the government district is not a place you want to hang around in! If his girlfriend is arrested or something because of you I’ll-”

She freezes mid shout, one foot planted firmly on Sanji’s chest, a hand fisted in the fabric of Zoro’s shirt.

“Oh.”

She drops Zoro, who hits the ground with a wheeze and steps forward over Sanji, who lets out a grunt of ‘mellorine’ as her full weight shifts onto his chest and off again. She points to the middle street ahead of her.

“I had forgotten, but this road leads us almost directly to the government district, which obviously houses the government records building.”

Robin smiles. 

“Perhaps we should head that way then?”

Nami squints her eyes at her and Robin’s smile only deepens. Yep, she totally knew where that path led and had just sat back and watched the argument with that morbid sense of amusement of hers. She takes back what she said earlier, Robin was _not_ a sensible member of the crew. Looks like Nami was the only one. (But she already knew that).

“Alrighty then, let’s take the middle path.”

Nami walks forward confidently and ignores Zoro’s murmurs from the ground, something along the lines of ‘definitely in the jungle’ and ‘violent witch’, but Nami decides that he has so few brain cells left she’ll refrain from hitting him again. 

No longer split over their destination, the strawhats move towards the middle path, the crowds splitting as their motley group pushes forward. 

As they walk Nami contents herself with admiring the architecture of the buildings around them. Each building is made up of the same reddish-tan stone and almost look to be carved out of the same rock, the ground seamless where the buildings meet the streets. It’s a rather alluring sight, and clearly a strong point for the markets, as the sameness of the buildings lets the wares in front stand out more.

In her casual appreciation for local architecture, she gets distracted from the state of the rest of the crew, who are–unsurprisingly–bored.

At some point, the crowds thinned, as the warm looking shops gave way to the colder, more gray-tinged buildings of the government district, which is where the government officials regulate trade, income, taxes, law enforcement, etc. All in all, mostly just the place that wanted pirates should really _avoid_ , not that that’s ever stopped them before.

The lower amount of people is actually what allows her to come out of her thoughts as the quiet of the street easily gives way to the sigh Chopper gives.

Seeing the many pairs of eyes on him at the noise, he looks embarrassed.

“I’m sorry, it’s just–it’s just that walking around isn’t much fun.”

None of them, even Robin and Nami (and maybe Sabo? Nope, one look at him and she can tell he’s raring for some activity) who are usually fine with some subdued time, can argue with him.

Without Luffy it’s...

“If Luffy-bro were here there definitely would have been some action right now.”

Zoro gives a small nod while Brook nods his head vigorously and adds,

“Luffy-san would either have done something mildly illegal right now, or started a game or something.”

They all pause at that.

“Wanna...play a game?” Sabo asks sheepishly.

Nami snorts. Of course. Despite Sabo’s refined and mature exterior, she really should have guessed that he’s as much a kid as the rest of them.

Chopper gives a cheer.

Sanji smiles at him, and then frowns.

“What game?”

They stop.

The wind is practically audible in the semi-empty street. If Nami squints, she can imagine a tumbleweed bouncing along the cobblestones.

“Come on guys there’s no way we’re this bad at coming up with games. We play a game practically every other day.”

“...”

“Tag?” 

The suggestion comes, surprisingly, from Sabo. They turn to him, and her crewmates look oddly contemplative.

“I love tag! Let’s play, Luffy always suggests that too!” Chopper’s shout of excitement earns a small smile out of Sabo.

Zoro shrugs his shoulders.

“Can we think of something else? We always play tag and running around in circles seems slightly counterproductive.”

Nami agrees that he has a point, but on seeing the way Chopper’s face falls as he talks she feels the sudden urge to stick her foot out and send him face planting into the cobblestones. He’d deserve it too, the way he’s walking with his hands behind his head and his eyes closed. But she refrains, because contrary to popular belief she does have some semblance of self-control and also because he can’t afford to lose any more brain cells when he has so few left.

Sanji clearly doesn’t have the same reservations, as his leg shoots out and Zoro’s feet catch on it immediately. The swordsman’s eyes–which had previously been closed–fly open as he topples over and his face connects with stone.

The cook continues as though nothing happened, stepping lightly over Zoro’s splayed limbs.

“Everyone in favor of tag?”

The pirates–plus Sabo–are quick to sound their assent. Even Robin, who somehow manages to escape a lot of their more rowdy games, seems invested.

“Alright then,” Sanji flicks his cigarette butt to the ground and stomps on it, smoke curling up from beneath his black shoes. “Marimo is it first.” And with that damning proclamation, he takes off like a shot down the road. The others barely spare a glance at each other before running as fast as they can after him, grins on their faces, ignoring the cries of outrage from the ground behind them.

\------

“Time! Time.”

“Goddamnit, you did that just so I wouldn’t catch you.”

Nami grins at Franky’s red face, flushed from exertion. They’re both red and panting, just finishing a particularly long sprint as Franky signaled her out after she used him as a human shield when Zoro was it previously.

“No~” she says this with a wink that has Franky flipping her off, “I wanted us to take a break.”  
She points down to a large area filled with grass, benches, and what’s clearly a tourist rest stop, with large signs advertising both restrooms and-

“Water!” 

Tiredly, the Strawhats plus one head down to the rest area, grins still on their faces, enjoying the small bouts of shade the few trees in the area provide. They all meander over, intent on cooling off in the building.

Nami smiles as she walks, pointedly ignoring the way Zoro and Sanji shove at each other to get in the door first. She closes her eyes and imagines the chill of the air against her sweaty skin.

Caught up in her thoughts she almost doesn’t notice when Robin and Sabo slow down in front of her until she walks past them. She watches, confused, as Robin leans towards Sabo and whispers something in his ear. She was approaching from behind them, so she couldn’t see what sort of expression either of them had. Nami slows as she comes up even with them. Walking past them, she turned around enough to get a good look at their interaction. Robin’s face was passive, with a smile, but her eyes were sharp. And Sabo–Sabo’s face was blank and his eyes were dark.

Nami stopped walking altogether and shot a quizzical look at Robin. The archaeologist glanced up and gave Nami a smaller, but more genuine smile. Nami knew enough to know that Robin was reassuring her that, contrary to what it looked like, nothing was going on. She wasn’t quite sure that it was nothing, but she trusted Robin to know when she needed help. And if Robin thought she could handle it, she could handle it.

Nami gives her a nod and turns to walk back to the rest area. She doesn’t miss the way Robin turns to Sabo and tilts her head towards a tree farther away from the building as she turns.

\--------

Sabo pants through his grin, walking alongside similarly out of breath pirates. He hasn’t played tag in ages. Scratch that–he frowns, slowing slightly as the rest of his party makes their way towards the rest stop–has he ever actually played tag? He thinks for a moment, racking his brain. He…feels like he has, only...only he can’t remember ever playing at any point during his years in the revolutionary army. There’s been plenty of shenanigans and activity and whatnot, but… Sabo doesn’t think that he’s ever played with the other revolutionaries.

Hm.

This isn’t the first time he’s felt this confusion. This feeling of a missing piece floating just out of his grasp. It’s fairly frequent actually, given his amnesia. It spells for a life of wondering and feeling like somethings always dangling just out of reach. Honestly, by now he’s used to it, just another feeling that comes and goes. Sabo doesn’t feel like he used to be someone to let himself be defined by his past and certainly doesn’t now. But never has he felt it this strongly so many times in such quick succession, as he has in these few hours spent with the strawhats. The ragtag group of pirates has evoked some sort of emotion in him that he hasn’t felt in ages, not that he could name it. It’s part of what made him stay with them for so long, the hope that being with them would reveal one of the missing pieces he’s been looking for.

It hasn’t yet, but it sure as hell has been fun. He got to play a (his first?) game of tag after all.

He’s so caught up in himself that he doesn’t notice when Robin pulls up even with him as the rest meander inside the building. Sabo doesn’t even notice her next to him until he feels her breath on his ear.

He shivers, and moves to pull away, to turn to her and ask her why the hell she thinks it’s funny to jumpscare people like that, when she speaks, and his whole body freezes.

“I think we should have a chat, _Revolutionary Sabo-san._ ”


	4. Angry Women

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long to post! I have a really hard time finding the motivation to write, especially with school lately. If it's been a long time, feel free to leave a comment asking where the heck I am lol. If I haven't explicitly stated that the fic is dead, you can assume I'll still update. As long as they aren't rude, I don't mind comments that remind me to update because often times it's a comment that gets me started again. I absolutely don't recommend doing this with other writers, but I don't mind.
> 
> Enjoy chapter 4, Luffy's coming soon!

In the shade of the tree, Robin’s eyes are dark. A slight wind blows through the leaves, filling the quiet between them. He stays cautious.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?”

Her grin is sharp in response to his words.

“Mm, I believe I’m the one who should be asking that, Revolutionary second in command and Chief of Staff.”

He feels his own smile grow just as deadly. He should’ve known. There’s an intelligence in her eyes that speaks of knowledge and wariness. Realization dawns on him.

“Ah, so you were the new recruit two years ago.”

He takes the slight upward tilt of her head as an affirmation.

He remembers two years ago being off on missions nearly every day. The fall of Whitebeard had a monumental effect on the world and the stirring of the more unsavory characters. This lead to a very large uptick in Revolutionary activity to curb the surge in cruelty.

He also remembers hearing about a revolutionary prodigy. A new recruit that was so skilled they managed to be upgraded to more dangerous missions in a matter of _weeks_ rather than the years it takes some members. He had been rather curious about who they were.

But anonymity is like gold among revolutionaries. The less you’re known, the easier it is to do undercover work and remain unnoticed by the Marines. It’s the main reason he hasn’t allowed the World Government to get ahold of a picture for his bounty poster, despite his slightly selfish desire to have his face known around the world.

It’s this anonymity that prevents him from seeing a lot of his own organization, though he probably meets more than most, being the Second in Command. The only one who knows all of the members is most likely Dragon, though there are a multitude of informants and the like that even he hasn’t met.

So, regardless of his wish to see the new up-and-comer, being extraordinarily busy and the desire to keep the top brass of the revolutionaries secret got in the way.

Which, looking at the barely concealed desire to murder him on Robin’s face, did _not_ work out in his favor.

Not just anybody can be a leader of an organization that’s working to destroy a government. Everyone is aware of that. And, like in any workplace, rumors spread and evolve among Revolutionaries like wildfire. Anyone who hasn’t met Sabo has heard stories and spread rumors. He fights the urge to wince. There have been a lot of _unsavory_ rumors spread about him. About how he’s bloodthirsty, unmerciful, a monster, etc, etc. He hadn’t really minded, it helps keep his subordinates respectful, but it’s clearly come back to bite him in the ass here.

It’s not surprising then, that she’s so wary of him. It is sort of disappointing that this outing is being tainted by this confrontation, one that he can reasonably assume is born of misunderstanding and assumptions. He’d gotten too relaxed, let down his guard and hadn’t realized that she’d caught on to his identity. If he had perhaps he could have slipped away and disappeared into the crowd, like he’s done countless times before. Now he’s stuck here with a _very_ experienced assassin who believes he may have come to harm her friends. Wonderful.

Busy with wishing he wasn’t such an idiot, he doesn’t respond and she fills his silence.

“See, when a rather _famous_ ” she says the word like an insult, “member of the revolutionaries takes an interest in my crew, I take it upon myself to find out why.”

Her inky black hair swirls around her shoulders in the breeze and the expression on her face shows him that her epithet of ‘Devil Child’ is fitting. The unspoken promise of violence that hangs in the air after her words convinces him that he needs to start damage control immediately. The Straw Hats are famous for the pure destruction they bring wherever they go and he can’t risk their well-intentioned but misplaced righteous fury getting in the way of his mission.

“Look Robin, can I call you Robin?”

Cold blue eyes bore into his and he’s not entirely convinced that she doesn’t have some form of conqueror’s haki.

“Alright, Robin-san it is then.” He schools his expression into one that he hopes comes across as earnest. “Regardless of my, ah, _profession_ ,” She crosses her arms and he speeds up.

“The truth is as exactly as I told you, I’m here on vacation with my girlfriend. We just needed a quick break and what better place than here right?” He spreads his arms out, hoping his act isn’t too over the top.

“Only I didn’t plan for us to get separated in the crowds, Koala is usually the one who has a map.” This one isn’t exactly a lie. He wears his best ‘ _ha, silly me_ ’ expression and hopes she believes him.

Using Koala’s name is a gamble, as there’s no guaranteeing that she hadn't heard it during her stint as a revolutionary, but Koala is notorious for her anonymity. So Sabo thought he’d test his luck, hoping her name would add some extra sincerity.

“So happening upon, objectively, one of the most notorious pirate groups, admittedly known for their extensive collateral damage, is just a coincidence?”

“What, you don’t believe me?” He grins again, slipping slightly out of friendly and into dangerous and Robin’s face darkens. “Can’t a guy just enjoy a vacation with his girlfriend?”

The breeze picks up again as the two stare at each other. The woman across from him is unreadable, her eyes are cold and her expression speaks slightly of a want to just snap his neck and be done with it.

Neither of them blink. The air is thick with her scrutiny and Sabo can’t help but find himself tense in preparation in case his story wasn’t enough. Robin’s an adversary he wouldn’t like to take on in subterfuge, but perhaps in a head-on attack…

The two standstill, sizing each other up. The only sound is the slight rustling of the leaves above them.

Robin’s hand tenses on her arm and in a second Sabo’s hand is on his pipe. Her arms move forward, his fingers wrap around metal, starting to pull–

There’s a shout from the rest stop that makes both of them freeze. They both turn to look and find that the Strawhats are slowly filtering out of the building again, bringing back their boisterous energy.

Sabo looks back at Robin who's still staring in the direction of her friends. 

His hand slowly lowers as she turns back to him and her arms fall to her sides.

She sighs.

Robin knows that a fight between them wouldn’t benefit anyone. She’s smart enough to realize that if he really isn’t after her and her crew, there might be some other mission on the island, one that can’t afford to be interrupted by a large-scale fight between infamous enemies of the government and order in general. But only a fool would think that she still wasn’t wary though, Sabo will have to keep an eye on her after this.

“Alright Sabo-san,” she manages to make his name sound like a curse, “I’ll leave you be. We’ll take you to the government district and there only. Upon arrival we will go our separate ways and I do not want to run into you on this island again, are we clear?”

He puts his hands in his pockets and nods once.

She walks past him, back towards the building where he can hear some of the Strawhats have come back out. Sabo turns on his heel, intent on following her when she glances back over her shoulder and he stops.

“I do hope you enjoy the rest of your _vacation_.” She smiles, as though she didn’t just give him a poorly disguised threat, and walks the rest of the way back to the group, where Chopper immediately and excitedly strikes up conversation with her. The smile on her face now is worlds apart from the one she wore only moments ago.

Sabo stands there for a moment, drinking in the shade, the breeze, the sights and sounds of the boisterous group just a few yards away. 

He supposes that’s the end of his expedition with the Strawhats. The thought pains him more than he’d like to admit. He had foolishly hoped that after reuniting with Koala that maybe...maybe he could help them find their missing members. It was a dumb thought, Sabo knows this, he does, and yet… and yet the idea of leaving behind this group hurts him. Beyond the fact that he really does just enjoy their company, the confusion that accompanies them is hard to leave behind. Sabo’s not stupid, he knows that the disorientation that seeps into his life now and again is the result of his amnesia, that the deja vu is his mind trying to remember, to connect the dots and fill in the giant blank in his mind. 

But he has to leave them. His past is set in stone, not finding it won’t change it, but failing a mission will certainly affect his future. Despite his personal desires, his duties come first so he will set aside this possible lead for hope for the future.

No matter how much it pains him.

\------

Nami rolls her eyes as she exits the building, ignoring Brook’s cries from behind her. In the shift from artificial back to natural lighting she has to briefly shield her eyes from the sun. Nami surveys the group, making sure everyone is accounted for. 

Franky and Brook are in the building behind her, there’s Zoro arguing with Sanji again, to the right of them is Chopper, whose talking to Robin, and behind them–

Nami lets her hand fall back to her side. 

Sabo stands a ways away, engulfed in the shade of a lone tree in the grass. His hands are in his pockets and he’s facing them, the wind ruffling his blonde curls slightly. On the surface level, he looks serene, almost too serene. But she can see the way his body language is different, less relaxed and confident. The carefree expression is gone from his face and he looks almost... sad? But not quite. There’s a wistfulness to it that surprises her.

The way he looks at them sometimes…

Wherever her train of thought was about to go gets interrupted by her being slammed into by the door behind her. She nearly faceplants on the sidewalk before correcting her momentum. In her distraction, Nami had stopped walking. Right in front of the door. And, being the idiot that he is, Franky didn’t even look to see if someone was in the way before opening the _glass_ door. Needless to say, she teaches him a much-needed lesson about that. Unfortunately for him, her curriculum heavily relies on her fists.

By the time she’s satisfied, the rest have meandered over and Sabo has left the shade of the tree.

“Alright,” she says, commanding their attention again, “To the government district we go.”

Chopper gives a small cheer and starts walking, which earns a small smile from Zoro, who also begins walking but in the opposite direction. Dumbass.

A couple of minutes and one wrangled Zoro later, the Straw Hats–plus one–are on the move again. 

Nami covers their checklist in her head again.

1\. Find the government building Sabo said was his meeting place  
2\. Find Sabo’s girlfriend at said building  
3\. Locate her idiot captain and crewmate  
4\. Berate them for getting lost or whatever they did  
5\. Drag them back to the ship, WITHOUT any complications.

Yeah, seems doable.

It only takes them about ten minutes to get to where they think the building will be. The surrounding buildings have now taken on a completely different style. All whites and grays, with columns and fancy molding around windows. She had planned to get out of here fast, but maybe she should stick around and lighten a few pockets. Or safes.

They stop when they reach a square and Sabo scrutinizes the buildings, spinning slowly in a circle. They’re an odd group, standing out pretty obviously among the suits and briefcases. (Nami definitely doesn’t stick her tongue out at a man who was staring a little too long. Nope.)

“Oh! I’m pretty sure it’s that one.” (He’s more than just pretty sure, Sabo memorizes what the target building looks like because he’s not an idiot, but none of them know that).

The building he’s pointing at doesn’t particularly stand out, it’s just as white and marble-y as the rest. But there is a considerable amount less foot traffic going in and out than the other buildings, which isn’t exactly surprising. A records building isn’t the hottest government activity center.

What does stand out, however, is the girl in front who looks like someone just upended her lunch onto the ground in front of her. Her arms are crossed and her expression is stormy. Her foot taps an angry beat on the cobblestones, bouncing her whole body with obvious impatience.

Oh. This must be Koala. Rip Sabo, maybe Nami will burn some incense for him when they get back to the ship.

It doesn’t take her long to see them approaching. They draw near and Koala’s foot stops tapping as she appraises them. If she notices that they’re wanted criminals, she doesn’t show it.  
Then, her eyes alight on Sabo.

“You!!”

Sabo shrinks back slightly at the cry of rage.

“Me.” He says meekly.

“Don’t you _me_ me! Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you!!” Her hands have found their way to his neck and she’s shaking him like a ragdoll. Nami backs away a little and wonders if they’re all about to become accomplices in a murder.

“You missed our meeting time by over an hour! You took so long I did the _tour_ by myself!”

Sabo frowns at that and Nami wonders how interesting this tour must’ve been. He grabs her wrists and gently twists her hands away from his neck.

“You did it without me?”

“Yeah, asshole. And you lose your turn to pick an activity so now I’ve decided where we’re going next.”

There’s something in her eyes as she says that and Sabo nods slowly. Nami gets that increasingly familiar feeling that there’s something that she’s missing and looks to Robin, whose eyes are narrowed.

Deciding to prevent Sabo’s premature death, she intervenes.

“It might be partially our fault that he was late.”

Koala’s gaze turns on her and she suddenly seems to realize that Sabo came with other people.

“Oh! Where are my manners, sorry. I’m Koala and you are..?”

“Nami. And we were coming with him because we were heading in the same direction, we definitely slowed him down.” 

She intentionally left out the part where he had no idea where he was going, she was a little fond of him after all. She’d prefer to be invited to his eventual wedding and not his funeral.

“Oh, that’s alright. He’s late to everything.”

Koala looks over the rest of the group. Nami pretends not to notice the way her eyebrows lift minutely at the sight of Robin. She files it away in her growing list of ‘Ok that was definitely suspicious but not currently life-threatening’ things for later.

Koala steals another glance at Sabo before turning back to Nami.

“It’s ok, I’m sure he was lost anyways.”

“Hey!”

“Thanks for bringing this idiot back. You said you were heading in this direction? Where were you headed?”

Nami sighs.

“It was no trouble, and we don’t really know where we’re heading. We got separated from two of our group and we’re trying to find them.”

Koala nods thoughtfully.

“You know if I were looking for someone I’d head to the waterpark section of the island, if people aren’t shopping that’s where they tend to gather.”

Sanji grins and Nami can practically see him holding back the ‘I told you so’ from Zoro.

“Looks like our next location is set then?”

Nami shrugs.

“I guess if everyone’s in agreement.”

There are very nods of affirmation and one rude comment by Zoro that has a scuffle started again. Franky and Brook are dragged in and Nami’s desperately trying not to imagine how the small wrestling match must look to the other people in this _government_ district. 

Fighting the urge to put her head in her hands she looks back to Koala to apologize for the rampant stupidity.

She finds Sabo and Koala staring at each other, eyes locked in silent conversation. Koala’s eyes narrow briefly, and she must come to some sort of conclusion because she breaks eye contact and turns back to Nami.

“You know, I wanted to head over that way anyways, mind if we tag along?”

Sabo chokes.

Tag along…? Seems like an odd request for a couple's vacation, especially when they’ve been separated for most of the day. But Koala seems sensible, and god knows Nami could use some more IQ points around here so she’ll take it where she can get it.

“Sure, the more the merrier.”

Sabo seems to be dying now, arms waving an odd hand motion at Koala. He stops suddenly when Robin looks in his direction, paling slightly. She levels him with an unimpressed look and he makes a sheepish ‘what can you do?’ motion. Nami must either be incredibly out of the loop with everything that’s going on around here, or everyone’s just slowly going insane. She’s not quick to rule out the latter.

It takes just a shout of joy from Chopper and the group is moving again, off toward the tourist attraction in the distance, a small feeling of excitement in the air.

Nami pauses and glances north, up to the cliff lurking beyond the buildings and to the jungle looming above it. The height and the distance make it a foreboding image, a stark contrast to the bright waterpark they had gotten a glimpse of when they arrived.

Maybe, for once in their lives, they’ll avoid the dangerous and scary parts of the island. Maybe for once in their goddamn lives Luffy and Usopp will be conveniently at the waterpark and they won’t have to go on some convoluted adventure.

She sighs, and starts walking forward.

Maybe.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow my tumblr @straymugiwara for sneak peeks at chapters


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